A Perfect Contradiction
A Perfect Contradiction ''is the third studio album by English recording artist Paloma Faith, released by Sony Music Entertainment on 10 March 2014. Musically, the album is a pop album, with elements of R&B, jazz, soul, Motown and disco. The album received mixed to positive reviews; it spawned six singles. On 15 September 2014, it was announced that a repackaged version of the album, entitled ''A''' '''Perfect Contradiction: Outsiders' Edition, will be released on 10 November 2014, postponed from the original date of 3 November 2014. It features three new songs as well as a rearranged version of "Changing", Faith's collaboration with Sigma. Background Paloma Faith had posted pictures of her recording her new album for several months on Instagram. She then announced that her new album would be entitled A Perfect Contradiction. On 13 January 2014 Faith premiered the video for the album's lead single, "Can't Rely On You". The single was produced by Pharrell Williams, who wrote the song along with Faith. Paloma previewed the song "Love Only Leaves You Lonely" at a June 2013 performance in Liverpool, and has since made the song available as a pre-order preview on the iTunes Store. The song "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" was premiered in a stripped back acoustic version on Amazon, and the song was later performed at a Burberry fashion show in February 2014. Faith streamed the album on Soundcloud via Nylon a few days before the album's release. The album's release was promoted with appearances on various UK radio and TV shows, including a performance on the final of The Voice UK Series 3. Writing The second single from the album, "Only Love Can Hurt Like This", was written entirely by Diane Warren, who has written for Faith twice again, towards the single "Leave While I'm Not Looking" (Featured on the Outsider's Edition), and "The Crazy Ones" (Featured as the main theme of the film "Miss You Already"). "Impossible Heart" was written by Faith and Christopher Braide, who had previously worked with Faith on her second studio album Fall to Grace towards the song "30 Minute Love Affair". Both songs used synthesized instrumentation. "Impossible Heart" was not released as a single. "Trouble With My Baby" was originally written with Steve Robson in synchronisation with Faith's previous album Fall To Grace, but was considered by Faith as "inappropriate" or "misfitting" in regards of the theme of Fall to Grace. As a result, the song was saved for a later album, specifically A Perfect Contradiction. Critical reception On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, A Perfect Contradiction received an average score of 66, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 10 reviews. Digital Spy made this comment and called the album "solid but unsurprising". Further commenting: "There's often a temptation for soul singers to turn out albums full of ballads, so kudos to Paloma for coming up with something lively and largely mid to uptempo. In fact, the Diane Warren-penned "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" is her only truly big ballad moment; the sumptuous big band production and throaty vocal reminiscent of Dusty Springfield or Sandie Shaw." The album earned 3 stars out of 5 from The Guardian, saying it was "consistent but formulaic: horns plus wailing vocals plus Motown feel start to grate by the end of the record. Faith's voice is all there, but her songwriting calls for added ingenuity. Commercial performance A Perfect Contradiction debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number two, beaten by The Take Off and Landing of Everything by Elbow from the top spot. The album has so far spent a total of 29 weeks inside the top 10. On 22 August 2014 the album received a Platinum certification for selling over 300,000 copies in the UK. After the single "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" reached number one in Australia, the album jumped up from number 15 on the charts to its peak at number four, becoming Faith's highest charting album in that country. The album also peaked at number 8 in Ireland, 17 in New Zealand, 41 in the Netherlands and 91 in Switzerland. A Perfect Contradiction became the sixth best selling album of 2014, and the best selling album for a female artist in the UK. On 20 February 2015 it was certified double platinum for sales exceeding 600,000 copies in the UK. The album also became the 23rd biggest selling album of 2015 & has sold 1 million copies worldwide. Singles It spawned six singles; "Can't Rely On You", "Only Love Can Hurt Like This", "Trouble With My Baby", "Ready For The Good Life", "Leave While I'm Not Looking" and "Beauty Remains". Track Listing Category:Music Category:Album Category:A Perfect Contradiction